Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) was a guest speaker at a community forum hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association this past Monday, Oct. 29. The forum, which was held at the Casa Marina Hotel in Jacksonville Beach, offered residents the opportunity to discuss their experiences with Alzheimer’s and the various challenges faced by those who have the disease, as well as their caregivers.
Issues addressed at the meeting included the need for increasing public awareness about Alzheimer’s, reducing the stigma associated with the disease, promoting health screenings and making resources more easily-accessible for caregivers.
In introducing Rutherford and opening the conversation, the Alzheimer’s Association’s statewide Vice President of Public Policy Michelle Branham emphasized that the mission to cure Alzheimer’s could be supported by people of all means and backgrounds.
“Often times, in a divided world, it’s really important to have a unifying thing that we work for,” Branham said. “Alzheimer’s is one of those unifying issues that we can all get behind, and we can all realize the importance and significance of moving important pieces of legislation forward.”
Rutherford agreed, noting that bipartisanship was key in securing Congress’ recent approval of a $425 million increase in Alzheimer’s and dementia research funding at the National Institutes of Health, and that it will also be instrumental in garnering support for the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act, which focuses on improving early diagnosis of the disease, reducing risk, preventing avoidable hospitalizations and increasing the collection and analysis of data regarding cognitive decline.
Adding that his own mother struggled with memory loss before losing her battle against colon cancer, Rutherford pledged to continue fighting for a cure on the national level.
“My heart just goes out to this population that’s affected by this, so I am very honored to be in this fight in Washington, D.C. to help as much as we can to make funding available,” he said. “I think it’s really important that we begin to focus on these issues like cognitive decline. We need to study this; we need to capture data that we can actually use for caregivers and others.”
Branham, praising Rutherford for his continued support, said, “It’s really nice to have people care, but it’s quite another thing to have people be champions. (We’ve) got a champion legislator in a leadership position that can really multiply our voices, and I think Congressman Rutherford does that so well. His heart is really in it.”
Others in attendance also expressed their appreciation for Rutherford’s support, including Darby Mueller, whose mother previously worked with the former Jacksonville sheriff, but has since been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“In the early days, I knew him as Sheriff Rutherford,” Mueller said. “He did everything wonderful for this city and he continues to this day to do wonderful things, and I’m here just to thank him on behalf of my mom.”
